Zuckerberg’s political shift didn’t shock Meta staff: ‘The whole time this was all one inch underneath’

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg‘s recent public support for President Donald Trump did not come as a shock to those who know or have closely worked with him, with dozens of people saying some changes at the company are part of the tech billionaire’s long-held beliefs.

Dozens of people who have either worked with or known Zuckerberg told the Financial Times that the CEO’s more public shift toward Trump is just Zuckerberg displaying the more “authentic” version of himself to the world, even though he was once known to support liberal ideology and voiced opposition to Trump’s policies during the first administration.

“Mark was trying to keep his real feelings tight inside and put on a suit and cut his hair and be a good boy. But the whole time this was all one inch underneath,” an unnamed Meta insider told the outlet. “Then he said, ‘F*** it. I might as well be the person I really am.’”

Since Trump was elected in November, the Meta CEO has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, attended the inauguration, co-hosted a reception, and changed company policy to align more closely with the administration.

Insiders told the newspaper that the tech billionaire’s unapologetic pro-“masculine energy”, free speech-loving shift is only a shift to the public.

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“The public is seeing him more how we have, internally, since the beginning.” Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, told FT.

Bosworth suggested that Zuckerberg’s former suit-wearing, government-obeying self was just the Meta CEO doing what he thought he was supposed to be doing.

The Independent has asked the White House for comment.

Meta declined to comment for this story.

Zuckerberg’s private shift toward more conservative figures, such as Trump, was reportedly a slow movement that was seemingly triggered by constant pushback against Facebook – Meta’s former name – from both the public and lawmakers, especially those seeking to regulate the tech industry.

One major shift came in 2020, when Biden administration officials pressured Zuckerberg to censor misinformation about Covid on his social media platform, which he did and later regretted.

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But under the Trump administration, Zuckerberg appears less concerned with appeasing the public. Appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast recently, the Meta CEO said he believes “masculine energy is good.” Even when executives challenged Zuckerberg’s comments, he refused to apologize.

Those familiar with Zuckerberg told FT that his decision to lean into hobbies such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu or wear more streetwear or cozy up to the administration is all part of Zuckerberg’s efforts to get people to like him.

“He saw that Elon Musk was popular among the tech bros,” a former insider said. “There was a push to make him cool. The core of the Social Network movie is true — he just wants people to like him.”